A NIGGLING fear will haunt Andy Murray even as he revels in the less pressurised freedom when he walks onto Centre Court to defend his Wimbledon title on Monday.

John McEnroe, who once told himself that if he ever won Wimbledon he would never come back, sparkles as he recalls his feeling of delight at returning to the home of tennis as the champion.

Yet he also acknowledges the little worry in the head about getting through the first round and hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Lleyton Hewitt in 2003 and Steffi Graf in 1994 saw their titles slip at the first round stage and taking on the champion motivates others as McEnroe, Jim Courier, Jimmy Connors, Roger Federer and Boris Becker all discovered in later rounds.

"It is going to be amazing," says McEnroe, 54, who won three Wimbledons in 1981, 1983 and 1984, and four US Open titles.

"To me there is a lot less pressure. No one can ever ask Murray 'are you ever going to do it?' He went through a lot to get through that.

"I remember I had gone through so much turmoil that I said to myself that if I win it, I will never come back.

"The moment I won I thought I wanted to come back. He never felt as negatively as I did - some of mine was self-inflicted."

McEnroe says the unique Wimbledon idea of having the champion open the event at 1pm works well.

"There is always a feeling of an immense accomplishment and perhaps not superiority but you feel the tradition of coming out at that time and playing is different to other events.

"You have that brief moment of euphoria and then you have to go through the whole idea of possibly winning again.

"Every defending champion goes out there and there's that bad thing...it's like when Goran said there's a good and and bad Goran, there's a little part of you and you have to make sure you don't let that seep into your mind.

"No-one wants to be the guy that loses first round when you're defending your title.

"You also have to get the idea that the court is a little slicker and you think of Centre Court and talk yourself into the fact that you have the advantage because you are the guy who knows how to play on it.

McEnroe says he found it easier to win the title the second time but insists that it depends on experience and how tough the draw is.

"No matter which way you slice it, it is pretty tough to win it," he said. "I would think it will be quite a bit easier for him to do it.

"He has this window as long as he is healthy and he seems like he is all the way back physically."

McEnroe, who will commentate for BBC TV and present 606 on Radio 5 Live, says he was surprised that Ivan Lendl did not stay on for another year after helping Murray win Wimbledon but that it will make no difference to the Scot's desire.

"You just taste it and you want it so bad that you find other gears," he said. "When I lost to Bjorn Borg at Wimbledon in '80 I looked at this guy and thought 'he has won it four in a row and that made it five. How the hell does this guy want it so bad'.

"It taught me something. Murray's been taught by these experts like Nadal and Federer. They just find something in the well. They want it more than you thought was even possible.

"Murray, to me, has the best chance to derail a Nadal-Djokovic final."

Father of four Federer will find it tougher than ever as his aura of invincibility fades, says McEnroe.

"I don't think he is going to win another major," he said. "You think it's tough to beat your opponent, wait until you have two sets of twins."